Hotline #774

The Amtrak supplemental funding proposal referred to last week is still working its way through the OMB. The Administration is looking for offsets, but is interested in the concept and is expected to present a proposal to House Appropriations soon.

The energy tax approved by House Ways and Means last week is in trouble. Three members of the Senate Finance Committee -- Born, Breaux, and Danforth -- plus Senator Cohen, are trying to kill it and replace it with spending cuts. Amtrak, as usual, could be a potential target. NARP members should contact their Senators immediately and tell them to keep the energy tax, especially if they are on the Finance Committee.

Senate Commerce Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Exon (D.-Neb.) held a hearing yesterday on S.839, the equivalent of H.R.1919, the Administration high-speed rail corridor authorization. High Speed Rail/Maglev Association president Joe Vranich urged the Senate to be cautious with incrementalism, saying that, even after receiving a lot of taxpayers' money, Amtrak was still slower than 50 years ago on the Chicago-Detroit line. That is true for old express trains, but more importantly, Amtrak is faster than the Penn Central trains it replaced 22 years ago. Vranich also criticized plans for the Seattle-Portland line, saying the incremental improvements planned there would only be four minutes faster than in 1971 -- actually the figure is more like 19 minutes. Fortunately, Chairman Exon said no matter what happened with high-speed rail, he favored continued support of Amtrak.

The X2000 spent the week at Ivy City in Washington. On May 26 it will leave Washington at 8:00 am, pass by Fredericksburg at 9:00 am, and be on display at Fulton Yard in Richmond from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm. On May 27, it leaves Richmond at 8:30 am, stops at Rocky Mount at 10:30 am, Raleigh at 12:15 pm, Greensboro at 2:50 pm, with a display at Charlotte from 5:15 pm to 7:15 pm. On May 28, it is on display at Charlotte from 8:15 am to 11:15 am, then goes back to Raleigh. On May 29, it is on display at Raleigh from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. On May 30, it leaves for Orlando, via Selma. It will be on display at Orlando on May 31 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

NARP plans to respond to an item that appeared in the May Passenger Train Journal. That is a column by NARP founder Anthony Haswell, which was highly critical of Amtrak and of passenger advocates who want more funding, routes, and services.

House Transportation Appropriations Chairman Bob Carr (D.-Mich.), on May 6, the day after the Amtrak 1994 funding hearing, told Rep. Bob Clement (D.-Tenn.) at another hearing that federal funding for a Chicago-Florida train would be unlikely because, he said, "Over half the long-distance routes in Amtrak today are gigantic money losers." Clement is the sponsor of H.R.1090, which would authorize funding for the much requested route through Nashville and Atlanta.

At opening ceremonies for the TGV Nord Line from Paris to Lille on May 18, French President Mitterand openly mocked British government policy. Because the new TGV line will feed into the Channel Tunnel, Mitterand said, "[Passengers] will race at great pace across the plains of northern France, race through the tunnel on a fast track and then be able to daydream at very low speed, admiring the landscape and countryside ... until the day when someone over there in London decides to harmonize the way of doing things between the continent and the island."